The invention belongs to the field of durometers which measure hardness of indentible tissue or material. The embodiment described is particularly useful in dental and medical practice for treating edema, swelling, puffiness, or distention of mouth or body tissues.
The most common complaint after removal of a mandibular third molar is swelling, which causes pain. In situations where tissues are required to be load-bearing, such as for dentures or artificial limbs, there is a great need for a reliable tool for mapping the tissue density and thickness over bone to aid in the equal distribution of force over the load-bearing area engaged by the denture or artificial limb. In the treatment of gum diseases such as gingivitis and pyorrhea, the gum and periodontal tissues become edemic, and swell and soften. As successful treatment proceeds, the swelling reduces and the tissues regain their normal healthy firmness.
Prior to the present invention, no satisfactory tool has been available for the accurate, repeatable, in vivo, measurement of the firmness of body tissues. In some cases, post-operative swelling of the cheek has been measured directly by means of a tape measurer or by callipers. In one method described in great detail in Int. J. Oral Surg. 1975: 4; pages 121-129 a photographic method following oral surgery is described but this is awkward, requiring the patient's head to be clamped in a fixed ring aligned with a camera. All these prior methods and apparatuses are imprecise at best, and fail to provide any very useful tissue measurements.